Pollies taught to ‘catch and kill your own’

AUSTRALIA'S unprecedented bout of prime ministerial removals is being blamed on a generation of ruthless party apparatchiks and a "catch and kill" culture.

Members of Young Labor and Young Liberals had been "all taught that the way to get ahead was to kill the bloke in front of you, catch and kill your own," former prime minister Kevin Rudd told news.com.au today.

"And finally, these folks are now senior cabinet ministers and senior leaders within our respective parties.

"And it brings a culture from the youth wings of these parties into mainstream politics that frankly is new.

"I was never in Young Labor, and I doubt that Turnbull was a Young Liberal," apparently excusing himself and his Liberal counterpart Malcolm Turnbull.

Former PM Kevin Rudd. Picture: Lukas Coch/AAP

Kevin Rudd is an expert on leadership ousting, both as victim and perpetrator.

He has outlined his version of the coup which saw him replaced in 2010 by his deputy Julia Gillard - whom he subsequently counter-couped in 2013 - in a second book of memoirs released today, Kevin Rudd: The PM Years (MacMillan).

Ex-PM Julia Gillard. Picture: Lukas Coch/AAP

He is ready for history to judge his heavily-footnoted recollections against the contrary accounts by foes Ms Gillard and Wayne Swan.

Mr Swan, for example, today referred to a passage noting his absence from a Rudd New Year's Eve party in 2009, which the then prime minister saw as the start of a campaign against him.

The former treasurer said there was no snub or sinister cancellation. He and wife Kim hadn't accepted the invitation because it had arrived just five days before the party, and they had already made other plans.

However, there were issues other than social no-shows at stake in that period, including disagreement over tax reform and reduction of carbon emissions.

Mr Rudd says his book deals not just with the leadership challenges but also the consequences.

And he says he knows the solution to the extraordinary turnover of PMs.

Malcolm Turnbull at a press conference shortly after he was ousted as prime minister. Picture: Sean Davey.